It's Begining To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Yes, that's right, beginning.

For my family, Christmas proper will actually be happening Thursday at the Mountain Town condo. Rachel was working and Andy and Jenn spent the holiday with Jenn's parents, so it was just me, Mom, and Dad (and Natasha, of course) in Grand Junction for the official holiday.

We each opened a few presents - Mom's present to Dad wouldn't travel well, Dad had some car-trip stuff for Mom, and they both insisted that I open two gifts right away. I was all in favor of waiting, but saw their insistence that I would want this one now when I opened the package to find a shiny new iPad!

Me:


The second package was my remarkable dad's solution to the pickle I had presented to him a few weeks ago. I had asked him about his iPad experience, since I was looking for a new gadget for traveling. The iPad seemed much better suited to travel in terms of size, portability, and setup, but since I usually blog-on-the-go, I wondered about the ease of typing and whether a smaller, sturdier laptop would be the better (albeit less luscious) option. The solution? My dad found an iPad cover/Bluetooth keyboard combo!

Most awesome indeed.

We hosted the annual game day Christmas afternoon, enjoying lots of tasty food and some new board games with my parents' circle of friends, Brian, and Jenni. A quiet way to spend the holiday, but not too bad considering the lack of siblings.

My dad has been either operating or tucked away in the basement working on some project I am verboten to know about most of the time since I got here. My mom has been doing various projects herself, plus assisting me a bit with my own craftiness. I hope to post some photos of my current project after our Christmas.

Oh! Also, Natasha flew in a plane for the first time! My mom booked me on a charter flight to get down here Thursday. After hearing about the two chemical-filled tanker trucks that overturned at Vail Pass on Tuesday and shut down I-70 for several hours, I called to thank her again for enabling me to skip the drive over this year. Nash flew for free with this company, and it is totally a case of luxuries once tasted. No security, no parking hassles (thanks again, Rachel!), and I didn't have to be there until 20 minutes or so before the flight. It couldn't have been easier. Natasha didn't seem all that frazzled, either.

She did, however, find the Christmas present my mom got her - she dragged the cat toy-stuffed stocking out of the shopping bag on the table onto the floor and was rubbing her face vigorously against it when we found her. We opened it, and she enjoyed a joyously drugged-out afternoon.

Happy Holidays, my friends!